Cloud Watcher
by Fire Red393
Summary: SHikamaru doesn't know what he wants. When he thinks he's got himself figured out, he proves himslef wrong. This is my first story. CC is welome. Sorry for the bad summary. Oh, yeah, I don't own Naruto


_Wow, she's pretty._

Ino was furiously searching through the trees, her blonde hair trailing behind in her wake. From the branches above, he could hear her hissing her frustration into the air as she stomped around through the brush. He fought the urge to laugh at her.

_Even when she's angry, she's so… _He stopped himself from completing that thought, stunned that such a notion had entered his head. But really, gazing down at her again, he couldn't deny her beauty: her long hair, bright eyes, and thin frame… all the boys wanted her and all the girls envied her. _But with beauty comes strife. She's too feisty and all she wants is her beloved Sasuke. _

He grimaced. _Sasuke._ All the girls wanted him, but all the boys hated him. And he hated them all back. Funny.

_She deserves something better than a guy who refuses to acknowledge her existence. Why doesn't she see that there are other guys out there who actually appreciate her, who _want_ her? They would treat her a lot better. She should just give up on Sasuke and go after someone worthwhile, someone who's smarter and actually –_

THUD. 

He froze, wide-eyed. A kunai was embedded in the bark near his head.

"I found you, Shikamaru! Now get down here so I can beat you to a pulp!" Ino stood at the trunk of his tree, glaring up at him with fire in her eyes.

_Troublesome._

"Don't make me come up there or I'll make it worse for you! Bring my kunai with you!" she screamed. Sighing, he jumped down to face his teammate, who was – for the moment – his opponent. She snatched the kunai from his hand and whacked him upside the head. "Don't you ever, EVER talk about Sasuke like that again!"

"What? What'd I say?" he asked as innocently as possible, genuinely unaware of his crime. He rubbed the lump forming on his head.

"You called him EMO! Sasuke is NOT EMO!"

"Pfft, first of all," this time he ducked as she swung again, "I never-"

"Shut up, Shikamaru! I don't want to hear you, or ANYBODY bad-mouthing Sasuke, EVER, you hear?!"

"Yeah, but-" _Oh man, what a drag._

"At least Sasuke isn't a lazy-ass like you! He doesn't just sit around on his butt all day and stare at the sky; he actually works for something! And I happen to think he's very handsome no matter what he looks like, unlike you, so if you ever call him emo again, you'll pay for it, got that?!"

Lazy. He could handle being called lazy. He could handle being ridiculed for gazing up at the clouds frequently. And he could handle being told again and again about how wonderful Sasuke apparently was (although he could never understand it), but being accused of doing something he never did to that self-centered _jerk_, and being called _ugly_ was a little too much. But then again, contradicting Ino was too much.

He merely sighed and let her stomp away, muttering various obscenities through her clenched teeth.

Where in the world did she get the idea that he called Sasuke "emo"? Sure, he often thought about it, but the words had never left his mouth.

_Oh well. There's no point in fuming over something I can't change._

He slumped down to the ground, leaned his back against the tree, and stared upward. The branches obstructed his view of the clouds, but he could still catch glimpses of wisps here or there as they nonchalantly floated by. He longed to be like them.

"Shikamaru, are you okay?" His plump friend approached him rather quickly for his size, and knelt down beside him. "She didn't hurt you too bad, did she?" Chouji sounded truly concerned.

"I'm fine."

"Oh man, I'm glad to see you survived the wrath of Ino." He chuckled. "What was she so angry about, anyway?"

"She says I called Sasuke emo, which I didn't, and she-"

"Oops… man, I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"Well, I didn't exactly _say_ you called Sasuke emo, but… but… I didn't think she'd go bezerk!!"

"You told her I said that?!"

"No, not really. I told her you _thought_ he was…"

"WHY?"

"Well, she saw us talking yesterday and she heard her name, and was wondering why we were laughing… so I told her…"

"But I never said Sasuke was emo."

"You smiled and agreed with me, though."

"So you told her_ I_ said it when in reality it was _you_ who said it? Way to pass the blame on, Chouji. Thanks a lot."

"I was joking when I said it."

"Who cares? Now she's mad at me."

"Man, I'm sorry."

"Oh, nevermind. She's been mad at me before…"

_This is why it's so much easier to be alone._

"Hey, you wanna go get some ramen with me? It'll take your mind off this." It wasn't until then that Shikamaru noticed Chouji had no food in his hands.

"Nah. I just want to be alone for now," he grumbled. Chouji stood up.

"Are you really that upset about it? I said I was sorry."

"No, I'm not upset. Don't worry, Chouji, it's not your fault. I just feel like cloud-watching for a while, that's all."

"Okay… I guess I'll just get some lunch by myself then." Chouji turned and soon vanished into the trees. Shikamaru sighed. He stood up, stuck his hands in his pockets, and sauntered in the opposite direction. Soon he reached a clearing in the woods and layed in the center, on his back. He had a clear view of the soothing white shapes that clothed the sky.

_Why is she so worried about what other people say about Sasuke, anyways? He doesn't do anything for her, he just ignores her. And no matter how much _I_ do for her, she still doesn't want anything to do with me. Of course, I'm not as "handsome" as Sasuke… Ino's image would be marred if I were to stand next to her. I guess she belongs with Sasuke no matter how he treats her. They would look good together, and that's just how life is. Birds of a feather stick together… Troublesome._


End file.
